Most of today's homes include carpeting in at least one, if not all, of the rooms of the household. When mishaps occur, such as flooding, roof leakage, or plumbing failure, oftentimes such carpeting becomes saturated with water, thus necessitating the taking of special measures to dry the carpeting. Generally, to accomplish this drying process, large commercial air dryer units are utilized. Typically, these devices contain large motor and fan assemblies and are positioned along the outer edges of the carpet such that the air outlet portion of the device is located underneath the carpet to provide a continuous stream of drying air between the carpet and the surface of the underlying floor. Thus, in order for the drying unit to function properly, it is necessary that the carpeting remain positioned above the outlet portion of the device. Presently known and manufactured commercial drying units contain no such mechanism for securing the carpet to the top surface of the outlet portion. To accomplish this purpose, oftentimes bricks or other miscellaneous heavy objects are used to pin the carpet to the top surface of the outlet portion. As can be easily appreciated, the use of such objects for securing the carpet to the outlet portion is often troublesome and in some cases leads to damage of the floor and/or surrounding walls when the object falls from the device. The present invention alleviates these and other problems by providing a carpet drying apparatus which includes a mechanism integrated with the outlet portion of the device for properly securing wet or damp carpeting to the top surface thereof.